DISABILITY AND INCLUSION

Our commitment to Inclusion by Design has generated a broad range of  more inclusive workplaces. We have:

• developed successful strategies for increasing the representation of people with disabilities within governments
• facilitated focus groups as strategic program development tools
• created forums and affinity groups for employees with disabilities
• developed skill-enhancement training programs
• provided individual and group counselling opportunities

Our online training programs focus on workplace attitudes. Delivered live through Zoom, we engage with participants in a context of compressed experience. This exposure provides an opportunity to identify and evaluate individual reactions to a variety of unfamiliar situations associated with people with disabilities. 

Based on the START Model (Skills Training, Awareness, Resources, and Theory) of disability awareness training, our program delivers measurable results. We administer the Co-Worker Acceptance of Disabled Employees (CADE) Scale - (a self-report questionnaire) - before and after each training session. Our analysis of responses allows us to determine the degree and specific aspects of changes to workplace attitudes toward people with disabilities.

We also develop:

• Orientation sessions
• Internal and external communication strategies
• Program development and evaluation
• Executive training modules
• "Train the trainer" programs

Disabilities are an everyday feature of the workplace landscape. However, opportunities to enable a professional, solution-oriented response to resolving prospective disability-related employment issues are not always apparent or available to employees.

Professional development is an interactive process that requires a quality curriculum in combination with an enthusiasm for learning.

Our team members have developed and implemented a variety of communication strategies to enhance employment participation by people with disabilities.

We deliver a variety of workshops on topics that include employment equity, disability in the workplace, participating in difficult conversations, and the duty to accommodate.

Example outcomes from our workshops include the following:

• Participants departed workshops knowing substantially more about employment-related disability issues.
• Participants have reported they would be more comfortable sharing information with their colleagues regarding the workplace challenges facing people with disabilities.
• Participants have identified that they had a greater awareness of the range of accommodations available to create accessible, productive workplaces.
• Participants felt more ready to support and mentor colleagues in the workplace identified with a disability.
• Participants indicated that they had substantially increased confidence regarding how to talk about disabilities in the workplace.
• Participants identified strongly with the proposal to promote solution-oriented disability employment workshops, indicating they themselves felt more prepared to lead such sessions with their colleagues in the future

Program development projects have typically included a five-stage approach, made up of initial client consultation, research, program framework development, implementation, and evaluation. 

We have demonstrated success in a range of program fields, including disability awareness training, employment equity, older workers, community housing, and others.

Team members have been very active in program development, especially on behalf of governments and non-government organizations.